▃▃▃ ᴅᴏɴᴛ ʟᴇᴛ ʜᴇʀ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ᴏꜰ ɪɴɴᴏᴄᴇɴᴄᴇ ꜰᴏᴏʟ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱʜᴇ ɪꜱ ꜰᴜʟʟ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ᴋɪɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ʙᴀᴅ-ᴊ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴡᴏʀᴅ
▃▃ ʙᴏᴏᴋ 1 ▃▃ In which the only daughter of Persephone sneaks on a quest to see the world for the first time since she's been at camp. The daughter of wisdom...
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𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⭑ ‧₊˚ ⋅ જ⁀➴๋࣭ ⭑๋࣭
I was flipping through the camp yearbook, skimming the pages that separated the unclaimed from the claimed, searching for one face-the man with the scar.
Then, without warning, a wave of sorrow slammed into me. It wasn't mine. The pain sat heavy in my chest, foreign and raw, like someone else's grief bleeding into me.
A knock at the door jolted me.
When I opened it, Annabeth stood there. Her eyes were red, swollen-she'd been crying.
Annabeth." My sigh wasn't relief. It was annoyance. For thirteen days straight, she'd shown up asking the same thing, and for thirteen days, I'd given the same answer.
"Are you coming to Percy's funeral?" Her voice cracked, her lips trembling.
I shook my head. "I need to check on Nico." My dismissal was sharp, final.
Annabeth's face twisted with disbelief. "You're worried about some ten-year-old boy who tried to kill Percy?"
I straightened, my tone defensive. "He wasn't trying to kill him. Nico had something else in mind-he told us that. You just... you don't want to hear it."
"Doesn't matter. He's still a son of Hades."
That was it. I swung before I thought about it, my fist connecting with her nose-not enough to break it, just enough to make blood bloom.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Your godly parent doesn't determine who you are-" I cut myself off when I saw tears streak down her face.
I exhaled, softer this time. "I get it, Annie. You're grieving. But Percy isn't dead. Trust me."
Her voice was low, bitter. "Trust you? Like when you lied to me about being the Champion of Nyx?"
I narrowed my eyes, ready to snap back-then that same heavy sorrow from earlier pulled at me again. My gaze shifted, and there he was. Dominic. Sitting on my bed like a shadow, silent, his emotions pressing against mine.
My fists unclenched. "Annie... I'll talk to you later. I'll be at the funeral."
Before Annabeth could argue, I slammed the door and leaned against it, trying to catch my breath. But the air was heavy, suffocating-Dominic's presence pressed in around me.
He was on my bed. Crying. Dominic never cried.
His broad shoulders trembled as he stared down at his bare hands like they were cursed objects.
